


once bitten, twice shy

by brahe



Series: brahe's 2017 advent bingo [24]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Family Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Grunkle Ford Needs A Hug, Grunkle Ford's Portal Adventures, Pines Family Bonding, Sibling Bonding, ac2017, adventchallenge, holiday fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-20 13:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13147407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brahe/pseuds/brahe
Summary: Stan and Ford and the first Christmas after everything.





	once bitten, twice shy

**Author's Note:**

> so this is super short, don't @ me, but I had this scene in my head so here we are  
> For "deck the halls" though it ended up not really filling that. Idk, maybe i'll go back and fix it up  
> Title from "last Christmas"

Ford's glad the kids are here for this first Christmas - it's been a lifetime since Ford's celebrated it, and even longer since he and Stanley spent the day under the same roof. They're a cushion, even if he feels bad saying it, and they force him and Stanley to get along perhaps better than they might have during these few days had they been alone together.

They pick them up from the bus stop the day before Christmas, and the first and only thing Mabel wants to do is decorate. Stan is happy to oblige, and lets the kid run wild with tinsel, lights, and every other possibility under the sun, helps her hang and tie while Dipper laments the lack of anything interesting in Piedmont, California, and begs Ford for stories from the last couple months.

Christmas Eve finds them in the living room, tinsel twinkling in the lights from the tree, some Christmas classic playing softly as background noise to a game Stan and the kids are deeply engrossed in. Ford had stayed in the kitchen, cleaning the dinner dishes and procrastinating whatever family event the rest of the evening most certainly held. It's not that he doesn't want to participate - in fact, quite the opposite. It has just been so long, and he's seen so much, that the simple joy of the season his brother and their niblings can find so easily seems terribly elusive to him. 

"Hey Ford," Stan calls, and then he's rounding the corner into the kitchen, and Ford doesn't have enough time to change the look on his face.

Stan stops in the doorway. "What can I do for, Stanley?" Ford asks, but it's too late and they both know it.

"Cut the bullshit," Stan says, a harsh whisper. "You've been acting weird since Thanksgiving. What gives?"

"It's nothing, I just - it's been such a long time since I've seen a Christmas tree, since I've heard Christmas music, hell, since I've even thought about the holidays. It's...an adjustment." He pauses, rubs his forehead. "You and the kids seem so happy together, and I don't want..."

"Don't want what? They're not going to judge you, Ford. For Christ's sake, you know what they went through at the end of the summer. They just want to spend time with you, you idiot. They love you. We all do."

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel yells from the living room. "Make some more popcorn!" 

"Grunkle Ford, hurry up! I need backup!" Dipper shouts, and it's quickly followed by a thump, more shouting, and loud laughter.

"See?" Stan says to Ford, before he yells back to the kids, "Don't break anything! Including yourselves!"

Ford watches as Stan goes about making another bag of popcorn. "No one here's gonna judge you," Stan repeats, then tilts his head. "Well, not for that. Expect lots of judgment for your clothing choices. No one needs a coat that long."

Ford sees the out, takes it for what it is. "It serves an excellent purpose," Ford says, and he gets up to help Stanley with the second round of snacks. "There's lots of pockets and places to put things." 

"And yet you still manage to lose just about everything you put in there," Stan points out. Ford elbows him in the side.

"Do not," he half-pouts.

"Do too," Stan says, smirking.

"Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Ford, Mabel’s cheating!" Dipper yells from the living room.

"Am not!" Mabel yells back, and Stanley looks at Ford with a smile before heading to the next room. Ford grabs the bowl of popcorn and follows after him.

  


 


End file.
